Former Mossad Head Dagan Gets New Liver in Belarus

Former Mossad head Meir Dagan has undergone a complicated operation – a liver transplant, in, of all places, Belarus

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David Lev, 16/10/12 22:41

Meir Dagan

Flash 90

Former Mossad head Meir Dagan has undergone a complicated operation – a liver transplant, to replace the diseased organ that had effectively stopped functioning in his body. The operation took place in, of all places, Belarus.

Information about the operation was revealed Tuesday by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, during a press conference.

Dagan received the liver about 10 days ago, but he is not out of the woods yet; he remains in isolation in his hospital room, as doctors seek to protect him from infection. Dagan's family has been hoping and praying that his body does not reject the liver.

Lukashenko said that Belarus had agreed to do the operation, after hospitals in the U.S., Germany, and Sweden refused to allow Dagan into their countries. “No one wanted to conduct this operation on a former head of the Mossad,” Lukashenko said at the press conference. “Ten days have passed since the operation that only Belarus was prepared to undertake. The U.S., Sweden, and Germany all refused.” However, family members denied this, saying that they had not attempted to send Dagan to Sweden, and that the German and U.S. hospitals would require a long wait for a liver, one that the 67-year old Dagan might not survive.

Dagan retired from the Mossad in January 2011, after receiving high praise from government and media for his management of the spy organization. Several assassinations of high-profile terrorists that occurred during the time of Dagan's administration of the group were said to have been carried out by the Mossad, at the behest of Dagan.

Among the terrorists eliminated during this period was Hizbullah top terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, and a top Hamas terrorist, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Dagan was also said to have presided over the operation to destroy Syria's nuclear reactor in 2007, and in various operations to delay Iran's nuclear program.